speakers Tuesday 9 March
Elisa Boscolo
PhD Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology , Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
- My research focuses on modeling vascular anomalies in mouse with the use of patient-derived endothelial cells (EC) or with transgenic animal systems that mimic genetic defects found in patients. Our goal is to identify genes and signaling pathways crucial for the formation of vascular anomalies as these discoveries can have the greatest impact on the understanding of processes regulating normal and pathological blood vessel formation. We have a strong focus on studying the role of TIE2 in venous malformations and GNAQ mutations in vascular tumors. Furthermore, we have a tight collaboration with clinicians to translate our molecular discoveries into targeted therapies for patients affected by vascular anomalies.
Ana Angulo-Urarte
Ana Angulo-Urarte is a senior postdoctoral researcher and Junior Leader “la Caixa” Fellow at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC), Barcelona.
She obtained her PhD at the University of Barcelona, studying PI3K signalling in vascular morphogenesis. During her postdoctoral training at the Academic Medical Center (AMC), Amsterdam, she studied how force-dependent mechanisms at adherens junctions regulate EC communication and collective behaviour in angiogenesis.
She now leads a research line investigating how intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as cell lineage, tissue context, and microenvironmental cues, shape susceptibility to PIK3CA-driven overgrowth in PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum (PROS) across vascular and non-vascular tissues.
Sarah E. Sheppard
Clinical Tenure Track Investigator, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD, USA
Dr. Sarah Sheppard is a clinical tenure track investigator at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The focus of her translational research group is to develop more efficacious therapies for individuals with malformations of the lymphatic system.
Dr. Sheppard earned her bachelor of science in nuclear science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then her medical degree and a doctorate in genetics, vascular development and bioinformatics through the combined MD–PhD program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Dr. Sheppard then completed a combined residency in pediatrics and clinical genetics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and following her clinical training, Dr. Sheppard joined the faculty of CHOP as a clinical geneticist in the Division of Human Genetics, the Comprehensive Vascular Anomalies Program, and the Jill and Mark Fishman Lymphatic Center. While at CHOP, she completed Masters of Translational Research at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and a post-doctoral fellowship in the Center of Applied Genomics at CHOP focusing on improved genetic diagnostics for diagnosis and treatment for patients with vascular malformations.
Dr. Sheppard is a prolific investigator, an active clinician board certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics and the American Board of Pediatrics, and a sought-after mentor. She has authored or co-authored over 50 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and reviews and is a recipient of numerous awards, including as a NIH Distinguished Scholar, the NICHD Scientific Achievement Award, the John M. Opitz Young Investigator Award, and the ASCI Young Physician Scientist Award.